4 years agoCincinnati Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo was tabbed by MLB.com's David Adler as a potential dark-horse candidate to lead the majors in strikeouts in 2021. Castillo has placed in the top-20 in strikeouts in each of the last two seasons while pitching to a 3.35 ERA in 260 2/3 innings. The key to his success is a fastball-change combo, throwing the two with similar arm angles but drastically different speeds to great success- he's racked up 253 of his 315 punch-outs over the last two seasons with that pitch-combo. Increased slider usage could take Castillo to the next level, as he's posted whiff rates of at least 40 percent in each of the last three seasons- but has thrown the pitch less than 20 percent of the time. Castillo is being picked just outside the top-10 starters but could very well finish as one, especially with strikeout king upside this year.--Tim Capurso
Source: David Adler